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Chapter 396 - An unique guide
🕑 Added 2022-02-07 13:01:02 +0000 UTC"I call upon the Guide of the Moon Base. As an explorer, I have proven that my motives are pure," Hera used her skill in the bathroom. She was sharing a room with Alex, but she didn't have to worry about her friend listening to the conversation due to her soundproofing barrier. It was impossible to know where the guide would come from. Because of that, she was sitting on the floor with her back against the door. That way, even if Alex tried to come inside for some reason, Hera would have time to dismiss the guide.
While she looked around, she noticed what looked like a metal gate appeared on the ceiling. Said gate slowly opened, and a flying saucer came from the opening. It was big enough to land on top of the tub but not large enough to cover the entire length of it. On top of the saucer, a large green dome seemed to be made of glass or something of the sort. Inside it, Hera could see some shadows and glowing parts moving around. In a way, this looked like a toy or a piece of scenery for a high school play. There was some quality to the UFO, but it was clear that it was more about the presentation than for actually flying through the stars.
Some lights started blinking, and smoke came out of the bottom of the saucer. Following that, a metal ramp unfurled from the side towards the bathroom floor. At first, it seemed like it wouldn't reach, but then the ramp expanded, finally touching the rug on the ground. The glass opened to the side with a soft hum and a humanoid figure wearing a full spacesuit came out of it. It was a bit of a shame that it was a human space suit and not something alien. The being, which Hera assumed was the guide, walked out of the spaceship and came down the ramp in slow steps as if this was a solemn moment that should go down in history.
"One small step for a guide, but a giant leap for all explorers," the guide spoke proudly.
Hera felt a bit weird about the situation, but she ended up clapping. Even if this was odd, to say the least, it seemed like a very well-rehearsed thing, and that deserved some appreciation.
"Oh no. What is this? Am I currently having a first contact?" the guide gasped.
"Wait? What?" Hera asked.
"Indeed, and this being even seems capable of speech. This is the most joyous occasion of my life. Please just give me a moment," the guide opened a small compartment on their sleeve, revealing a screen with several readings, "21% oxygen and 78% nitrogen along with a number of other gasses, none of them toxic. This is truly a blessing from the universe. A planet capable of sustaining life with the same air composition as my home. I shall risk my own life to prove this theory!"
The guide made their hand in a fist and calmly reached out to their helmet, "Computer, deactivate the safety protocols and unlock my suit. This is an order," a small gust of wind came out of the helmet, from where it connected to the rest of the spacesuit and the guide finally showed their true form.
Hera was expecting some sort of alien, maybe a little green man, or something made out of tentacles. Who knows, the MAZE could have made the aliens just different colored humans. Someone with blue or purple skin. As far as she was aware, there was no race currently on the MAZE that shared those kinds of skin tones. There was, in fact, a race with natural blue and purple skin on the MAZE, the Triton. However, Hera had little to no interactions with them, which caused her not to consider that group when imagining an alien. Her jaw dropped when she saw what was inside that suit. That was no alien, but a dog, a mixed breed between a husky and a spitz. They had mostly withe fur, but their face had two large black patches covering their eyes and cheeks, leaving a single line of white coming from the top of their head all the way to their snout.
"Greetings. I am Laika Orla Astra, and I came in peace," the guide raised their hand, which was humanoid with five fingers and opposable thumbs, trying to gesture that they were unarmed.
"Greetings? I am Hera… are you really not from here?" Hera was still a bit confused about the situation.
"Correct. I hail from a place far, far away among the stars," Laika replied with a smile.
"Like, from a different planet? Not from Earth?"
"In a certain way," Laika seemed a bit frazzled by the question.
"Hang on. This is important. It's kind of why I called you here. You don't live on Earth? So you live like on the moon or something? You're really an alien?" Hera pressed.
Laika clicked her tongue, "No. Argh. I can't lie when you ask me a question. Look, I'm a guide. I'm not an alien. This is just my routine so work with me here. Please? Just once. Please?"
"Oh, sure. I'm not a good actor, so I'll try," Hera cleared her throat and shifted her position, now sitting on her knees, "Greeting star traveler. I am Hera, a human from Earth. It makes me happy that we can confirm that we are not alone in the universe."
Seeing that Hera was playing along, Laika opened a massive smile, her eyes sparkling, "But of course. I'm glad I can bring such news. You see, my kind is not the only one in the universe. There are many others, both benevolent and malevolent among the stars."
"Malevolent?" Hera gasped, "Please traveler, what can you tell me about them and about the stars? If they are a threat to my kind, we must learn how to defend ourselves."
"Fear not human. Those beings are galaxies away. You see, during my travels," Laika started talking about everything she saw during her 'journey,' stars and planets, black holes and galaxies. The guide seemed to want to talk about anything and everything related to space. While the guide was talking, Hera made sure to look around to confirm that there wasn't a timer in any place. One of the hard rules of this skill was that the guide had to show you how much time you had left, and that should always be easy for the explorer who used the skill to see. A guide couldn't just hide the timer under a rock or something like that. If there was no clock around, the timer wasn't counting down.
As Laika continued to speak, Hera realized that most of her stories were very similar to some movies she had seen. One was about a mining crew that had to blow up a meteor in a collision course with the planet. Another was about some people who found an egg and unknowingly released a giant acid spitting alien on their ship. While she talked and walked around, Hera noticed something moving inside her spacesuit. At first, she got worried, but after a moment, she realized that the side-to-side movement was just below Laika's waist, around the same area where her tail should be if she had one. It seemed like she was really happy about telling her story. Despite this very weird situation, this dog was so cute that Hera was fighting against the urge to pet the guide.
About fifteen minutes went by, and Hera tried to also add some of the things she knew about space until Laika seemed satisfied with her routine. She looked down at the screen on her wrist, "OK, now I'm sure you have many questions about this place. Please, let this humble star traveler help you with that."
"Sure…" Hera hesitated.
"What's wrong?" Laika turned to the explorer.
"Oh, nothing. I'm just thinking about how to make the questions as an alien," Hera realized that her answer didn't fit with the routine, "Oh, sorry. I mean. I am thinking about how I can formulate the questions…. So you can understand my language. Yeah, that's it."
Laika opened a big smile again, "You don't have to do that. I mean, this was the first time anyone let me go for so long. You can speak normally, and thanks for that. People don't appreciate some theatrics anymore."
"Are you sure? I can try to make it work," Hera replied.
"I am. It would be unfair if I ask you to take too long to ask your questions," Laika nodded and tapped some things on the screen on her wrist. Behind her, on her flying saucer, a large digital clock appeared, marking five minutes, "I'll start when you ask the first question."
"OK, but everything will still be in that theme," Hera chuckled, "For my first question. Do you know if there are doorways on other planets?"
Laika froze before making the timer start, "That's your question? Really?"
"Yeah. Is there a rule that I can't ask about that?"
"Well, it's not a rule. I just can't answer that question," Laika replied.
"Oh… OK then, do you know if doorways appear out of the MAZE? Like, if we terraformed Mars, could doorways appear there, or would it be only something on Earth?"
"I… honestly don't know. That's a good question. I mean, doorways only appear in places that are considered safe, and if Mars became safe, in theory, the conditions would fit."
Hera glanced up and saw that the timer was still on 5 minutes, "That didn't count as a question?"
"Nope, since I only gave you my opinion and not a definite answer, it didn't count. I don't even know what the real answer is. Try something else, maybe something about the room."
"Is the Earth we see from here really Earth? Or just an illusion?" Hera asked.
"That one I can answer," Laika tapped her wrist, and the clock started to count down, "What you see here is essentially a live stream of Earth. The image keeps turning slowly, so you see a different angle every day. Still, it takes a week to see the Earth from behind."
"Really? I thought it was only through the front. Like from the direction the sun is shining. That really weird me out," Hera shook her head .
"Oh yeah. I can understand that. But it was a way to make the view better," Laika explained.
"I see… and do you know if Aliens or other planets have doorways?"
"You don't have enough time for that, unfortunately."
"Not even to ask if you know that?" Hera tried her best to see if Laika's expression would tell her any type of answer.
"Not even that, because if I say that I know or don't already is enough to reach the answer," Laika explained.
"Well, still, this gave me the information that you know about things that happen on Earth as well and that you know the answer to that question," Hera smiled.
"That is not a secret, just something that takes a while for some people to figure out, and we can't interfere."
"Fair enough," Hera looked up. She still had 4 minutes to ask questions, "Are there any secrets that people have yet to find in this room or in the dungeons here? Give me a yes or no answer."
"That will cost you a minute," Laika looked at Hera, who just nodded, confirming the question, "Yes, there are."
"OK… is there a legacy here?"
Laika just tilted her head, "Do you think you have the time for that one?"
"Not really, but it was worth a shot," Hera sighed, "You know, I don't have any other ideas then. Like I could ask if a new doorway can appear on Earth, but I guess I don't have enough time for that."
"Yeah, sorry. Five minutes kind of sucks," Laika turned back and stopped the clock, "You know what? I like you, and you were a really good sport with the whole alien thing. If you ask me a question that I can answer, but it would take like a few hours' worth of time or something, I'll answer. For the record, the questions you asked and I said you didn't have enough time were valued at centuries. The legacy thing was valued at decades."
"Really? So if you have actual numbers for that question, does it mean that there is a way for me or someone else to get that much time?" Hera asked.
"Is that your question?"
Hera thought for a moment, "No, I don't know if I want to know that. Even if you say yes, I bet that the information about getting more time is worth as much as the legacy thing, if not more."
"Way more. Trust me, it is not even worth it," Laika replied.
"Then... I don't know," Hera glanced to the side and saw the spell circle pattern on the cabinet that stopped it from getting any water damage, "I have one, well two actually, but one of them I hope doesn't count."
"Even the good ones are greedy," Laika shrugged, "What are the questions?"
"One is a compound one. Do you know how to make spell circles? If so, can you try to help me figure out a spell that I'm trying to make?" Hera asked.
"I mean… the type of magic we use doesn't require spell circles, but I can try to help."
Hera pulled up her tablet and showed the Imbue Element spell that she still couldn't complete. Laika took a glance at it and started thinking, "I'm not sure I'll be much of a help, but I can try. Also, this will be 100% my opinion, don't take anything that I say as absolute truth like you do with the questions since I have no clue what I'm doing here."
"That's fine. Any help helps."
"What's the other question?" Laika turned back to Hera.
"Do you have any sci-fi movies to recommend? I noticed a few of the ones you used as inspiration, but there were two that went over my head," Hera asked.
"Oh! I sure can. Tell you what, let's work on the spell while I'll make a list of movies for you. Before heading out, I'll send it to your tablet, OK?" Laika smiled, and her tail started to wag faster again before sitting by Hera's side so they could discuss her spell.
